I have always avoided discussing national politics but I am always drawn towards issues that affect the well-being of the Nigerian citizens. Bluntly speaking, Nigerians are the most patient people-group on the planet earth judging by the measure of patience which graduated to indifference and it is killing them in millions! As we look forward to another date of May 29, 2011 when a new set of "leaders" I prefer to call "political employees" will take office; I find it expedient to x-ray with my audience the state of the Nigerian people. Peradventure, some of these so-called leaders may have a renewed conscience to enter governance with a better spirit and carry out a total make-over of the system that will then guarantee a better deal for the Nigerian populace.
As I speak of the Nigerian people, I refer to the over 80% of men, women, young men & women, and children across the length and breadth of this great land who survive on less than $1 USD every day. The $1 USD is a measly N150 Nigerian currency! There are people who do not earn enough to survive on a dollar daily! It is a hard reality but it is true.
I am sad to report to the shame of our land that with a petrol income running into billions of dollars, we cannot afford to adequately take care of the Nigerian citizens. I am not suggesting people should be given money literarily to go and spend, no, far from it! We simply do not have the right conditions that will engender a true prosperous people even if they are engaged in personal enterpreneurship.
As a matter of fact, the Nigerian is about the most hard working person in all the world. He practically survives on nothing... no electricity but he generates enough mental capacity to earn a living to buy a generating set against all odds; with dilapidated public schools practically not functioning, he ekes out money to send his children to "private schools" that have the ultimate desire of making money from establishing schools - a fad that exploded in our nation in the last 20 years and has become a big business with very loose regulations for standards from the education ministry! To ensure a measure of comfort for himself and his family, he goes out in the morning and works all through the scorching sun and returns late in the night... and repeats this circle 7 days a week - with no recreation... when he is sick, he simply goes to a chemist! A chemist is a patent medicine store that you take drugs off the shelf without prescription and they operate in their millions of units across the land - a unthinkable thing in nearby Niger Republic, Chad, Benin Republic or The Cameroon. Most of the drugs are imported by uneducated medicine merchants who go into contractual agreements with Middle East and South East Asian Tigers to produce sub-standard drugs for sale in the Nigerian market - many citizens have died in the process. Those who tried to fight the menace in the past were targets of assassination and those who run the regulatory agencies today to fight those who adulterate drugs are busy organizing music shows and seminars and the peddlers are back in full swing - 25 year olds building near-skyscrapers from monies amassed from fake drugs that are consumed in millions of tablets and cubic liters across the land.
In spite of all these overwhelming odds with everything happening like there are no authorities, the Nigerian goes on with life and smiles and says "God dey!" The Nigerian spirit is indefatigable, indomitable, unrelenting and totally bent on surviving! But he is on his own!
The politicians in Abuja and those who occupy gleam buildings across the 36 States are merely scratching the surface. The real Nigerians that should be reached are totally on their own. In the days ahead, I will be addressing critically sectors of the economy and social realms that puts the Nigerian at a serious disadvantage in his quest for a real life. He is so potentially rich but lives in abject poverty. There has to be a way of bailing out the lost Nigerians... join in the struggle.
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